http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006210059,00.html

A WATER leak that gushed through a hamlet for 16 YEARS was finally stemmed — when a farmer turned it off at a stopcock.

Water board officials had always insisted the stream pouring down a lane was a natural SPRING.

The leak created a constant river — and even a muddy pool at its “source”.

But farmer John Berry eventually spotted a rusted stopcock in a grass verge nearby, turned it — and the “leak” stopped.

John, 54, said: “It beggars belief that water officials could insist it was a natural stream when there was a tap so close. It just needed a turn. “I turned the tap off with my hand and half an hour later the water had disappeared, leaving just a mud hole.”

“As soon as I turned it back on, the pond filled up. If that is a natural spring then it must be the only one with a tap on it.”